October 13, 2015
With their contract set to expire at midnight Thursday, hundreds of commercial office cleaners will vote Tuesday afternoon to authorize a strike in the event negotiations fail.
The janitors, members of Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, will gather for a rally and the strike authorization vote at 2:30 p.m. in the courtyard of 1515 Market St. in Center City.
According to the union, contract talks between its bargaining committee and the Building Owners Labor Relations Inc. have continued since Sept. 3. Despite what it claimed was a profitable commercial real estate industry, the union claims BOLR has called for cuts to workers' health benefits and pensions.
The union says the average Center City office cleaner makes around $16 an hour, substantially below the living wage of $23.39 an hour for an adult who supports one child in the city of Philadelphia, according to MIT.
A strike by janitors would affect 168 office buildings across Center City, including the Comcast Center, Wells Fargo Plaza and Philadelphia City Hall.
